Reflections on Spiritual Living
The term, lateral thinking, is attributed to Edward de Bono, who first used it in 1967 in his book “New Think: The Use of Lateral Thinking.” It means “the use of indirect or creative approaches to find solutions.”
The philosophy of Spiritualism is based on seven principles. As well as forming the foundation of our religion they give us guidance on how to live our lives. In other words, they give us “a code of conduct for living.” If we are serious about being Spiritualists, we’ll try to put our principles into practice. But wanting to incorporate them into our daily lives is one thing. Doing this is another. I sometimes fail when I try to apply the principles to my life, but I’ve found that help is at hand – in the form of lateral thinking.
As an example, let’s use the second principle, The Brotherhood of Man. Spiritualism is the one religion which allows its followers freedom to put their own interpretation on each of its principles. For me The Brotherhood of Man says, “You should love one another as brothers, unconditionally.” But, with some individuals, for whatever reason, love can be just too difficult to contemplate.
Using a bit of lateral thinking, we perhaps need to accept that we can’t adore everyone we meet and think about changing “love” to “care for.” This substitution, different slant, will enable us to demonstrate understanding and compassion rather than undying love for others and means we can still uphold the second principle by showing brotherly concern.
Our fifth principle is Personal Responsibility. This tells me that we are responsible for how we act. If someone wrongs us, then a common reaction is to want to retaliate. But if we do this, then we’re not acting in a personally responsible manner. So instead of blaming others for how they make us feel, we need to think sideways and realise that the responsibility lies with us – it’s how we react to others that’s important. If we manage our reaction, we can diffuse a negative situation. We will then feel in control because we will have used our ability to choose how to respond.
If someone lets us down or disappoints us, then getting angry won’t help. Instead a solution can be found if we “think outside the box” and perhaps give the person a hug! Hugs work wonders. They can be very effective as solutions in difficult situations.
If a person acts in a way which we think is wrong, unkind or selfish then we can dish out criticism, or we can get out of the usual line of thought and get value from the experience by treating it as a lesson – a lesson never to act like that ourselves.
So when things seem against us and life gives us a prize lemon, we need to try not to despair because of it’s sourness, and instead think laterally…. use the lemon to make lemonade!
